CHAPTER III.
"What's all this?" she cried in great agitation. "Wait, do not speak,Philpotts, leave him to me.... Do you go back to our place thisinstant; we cannot be away together, you know that; _it_ must not beleft alone, one of us must be on guard over it. Hurry, hurry, I neverfeel that _it_ is safe out of our sight.
"Now, sir," Mrs. Blair turned on me fiercely, "will you be so good asto explain how I find you quarrelling with my maid, permittingyourself to cast aspersions, to make imputations upon two unprotectedwomen?"
"How much have you overheard?" I asked, feeling very small already. Myself-reproach was aroused even before I quailed under the witheringcontempt of her tone.
"Enough to expect ample apology. How dare you, how dare you say suchthings? What you may imagine, what unworthy idea you may have formed,is beyond me to guess, but you can know nothing. You can have no realreason for condemning me."
"Let me admit that, and leave the matter there," I pleaded. I couldnot bring myself to tell her that she was self-condemned, that she wasthe principal witness against herself. It would have been too cruel,ungenerous, to take an unfair advantage. Why should I constitutemyself her judge?
She looked at me very keenly, her eyes piercing me through andthrough. I felt that she was penetrating my inmost thoughts andturning me inside out.
"I will not leave it at that. I insist upon your speaking plainly. Imust know what is in your mind."
"And if I refuse, distinctly, positively, categorically; if I denyyour contention, and protest that I have nothing to tell you?"
"I shall not believe you. Come, please, let there be no more evasion.I must have it out. I shall stay here until you tell me what you thinkof me, and why."
She seated herself by my side in the narrow velvet seat of the smallcompartment, so close that the folds of her tweed skirt (she hadremoved her ulster) touched and rubbed against me. I was invaded bythe sweet savour of her gracious presence (she used some delightfulscent, _violette ideale_, I believe), by putting forth my hand a fewinches I might have taken hers in mine. She fixed her eyes on me withan intent unvarying gaze that under other conditions would have beenintoxicating, but was now no more than disquieting and embarrassing.
As I was still tongue-tied, she returned to her point with resoluteinsistence.
"Come, Colonel Annesley, how long is this to go on? I want and willhave an explanation. Why have you formed such a bad opinion of me?"
"How do you know I have done so?" I tried to fence and fight with her,but in vain.
"I cannot be mistaken. I myself heard you tell my maid that you wishedto have nothing to say to us, that we were not your sort. Well! why isthat? How do I differ from the rest of--your world, let us call it?"
"You do not, as far as I can see. At least you ought to hold your ownanywhere, in any society, the very best."
"And yet I'm not 'your sort.' Am I a humbug, an impostor, anadventuress, a puppet and play-actress? Or is it that I haveforfeited my right, my rank of gentlewoman, my position in the world,your world?"
I was silent, moodily, obstinately silent. She had hit the blot, andcould put but one interpretation upon it. I saw she guessed I knewsomething. Not how much, perhaps, but something to her discredit. Shestill was not satisfied; she would penetrate my reserve, overcome myreticence, have it out of me willy nilly, whether I would or no.
"You cannot surely refuse me? I have my reasons for desiring to knowthe very worst."
"Why drive me to that?" I schooled myself to seem hard anduncompromising. I felt I was weakening under the subtle charm of herpresence, and the pretty pleading of her violet eyes; but I was stillresolute not to give way.
"If you will only tell me why you think such evil I may be able tojustify myself, or at least explain away appearances that are againstme."
"You admit there are such appearances? Remember, I never said so."
"Then on what do you condemn me? You do condemn me, I am certain ofit," she insisted, seeing my gesture of negation. "Are you treatingme fairly, chivalrously, as a gentleman and a man of honour should?How can you reconcile it to your conscience?"
"Some people talk very lightly of conscience, or use it when it is anempty meaningless word," I said severely.
"You imply that I have no conscience, or that I should feel thequalms, the prickings of conscience?"
"After what you've done, yes," I blurted out.
"What have I done? What do you know of it, or what led me to do it?How dare you judge me without knowing the facts, without a shadow ofproof?" She sprang to her feet and passed to the door, where sheturned, as it were, at bay.
"I have the very best proof, from your own lips. I heard you and yourmaid talking together at Calais."
"A listener, Colonel Annesley? Faugh!"
"It was forced on me. You stood under my window there." I defendedmyself indignantly. "I wish to heaven I had never heard. I did notwant to know; your secrets are your own affair."
"And my actions, I presume?" she put in with superb indifference.
"And their consequences, madam," but the shot failed rather of effect.She merely smiled and shook her head recklessly, contemptuously. Wasshe so old a hand, so hardened in crime, that the fears of detection,arrest, reprisals, the law and its penalties had no effect upon her?Undoubtedly at Calais she was afraid; some misgiving, some hauntingterror possessed her. Now, when standing before me fully confessed forwhat she was, and practically at my mercy, she could laugh with cooland unabashed levity and make little of the whole affair.
If I had hoped that I had done with her now, when the murder was out,I was very much mistaken. She had some further designs on me, I wassure. She wanted to make use of me, how or in what way I could notimagine; but I soon perceived that she was anxious to be friends. Thewoman was in the ascendant, and, as I thought, the eternal feminineever agog to attract and subjugate the male, she would conquer myadmiration even if she could not secure my esteem.
Suddenly, and quite without my invitation or encouragement, shereseated herself by my side.
"See, Colonel Annesley, let us come to an understanding." She said itquite gaily and with no shadow of apprehension left in her, not a signof shame or remorse in her voice. Her mood had entirely changed. Shewas _debonnaire_, frolicsome, overflowing with fun.
"What do you mean to do? Give me into custody? Call in the gendarmesat the next station? Have me taken red-handed with the--stolenproperty--the 'swag,' you know the word, perhaps, in my possession?"
"I am not a police officer; it's not my business," I answered gruffly.I thought this flippancy very much misplaced.
"Or you might telegraph back to England, to London, to Scotland Yard:'The woman Blair in the Engadine express. Wire along the line toauthorities, French and Swiss, to look out for her and arrestpreparatory to extradition.'"
"I would much rather not continue this conversation, Mrs. Blair."
"I am not 'Mrs. Blair,'" she cried, laughing merrily as at atremendous joke. "It is only one of my aliases. I am better known asSlippery Sue, and the Countess of Plantagenet, and the Sly American,and dashing Mrs. Mortimer, and--"
"Oh, please, please spare me. It does not matter, not a row of pins,what you are called. I would rather not have the whole list," Iinterrupted her, but could not check her restless tongue.
"You shall hear, you must know all about me and my famous exploits. Iwas the heroine of that robbery at Buckingham Palace. I was at theState Ball, and made a fine harvest of jewels. I have swept a dozencountry-houses clean; I have picked pockets and lifted old lace fromthe shop counters, and embezzled and forged--"
"And turned pirate, and held up trains, and robbed the Bank ofEngland," I added, falling into her humour and laughing as she rose toher full height; and again her mood changed, dominating me withimperious air, her voice icily cold in manner, grave and repellent.
"Why not? I am a thief; you believe me to be a common thief."